region 14 education service center abilene, tx 79601 … diligence/contract staffin… · ·...

Response to RFP

Region 14 Education Service Center 1850 Highway 351 Abilene, TX 79601

Proposal Submitted By

CORE Education and Consulting Solutions, Inc.

Three Ravinia Drive Suite 1900

Atlanta, GA 30346

RFP #05-13

Contract Staffing, Recruiting,

and Consulting Products and Services

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Copyright © 2013 CORE Education and Consulting Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved

Letter of Transmittal

April 9, 2013

Region 14 Education Service Center 1850 Highway 351 Abilene, TX 79601 Subject: Response to RFP #05-13 Contract Staffing, Recruiting and Consulting Products and Services Dear Region 14 ESC,

CORE Education and Consulting Solutions, Inc., (CORE ECS) is an experienced, full life cycle service-provider to educational and municipal customers, implementing staffing and consulting solutions

Our solution for utilizing the NCPA contract is to provide a Substitute and Absence Management Service for your potential educational market participants. Our SAMS Service uses a blend of phone and web ordering to manage substitute personnel. The goal is to provide you with a simple, fast turn-around, method for providing quality personnel and efficient absence management. Second, we wish to provide participants with access to our senior recruiting professionals, who will support customers in vetting and evaluating qualified candidates for each requested role. Our recruiters are highly qualified and are readily available to support and satisfy any number of positions that may be in demand. We look forward to fulfilling your future human resource requirements. CORE ECS Proposes a solution satisfying the following key elements:

• Price: You will find that our pricing model is affordable and aligned with industry standards.

• Usability of the Proposed Solution: We expect that you will find that our Professional Recruiting Service and web-based Substitute and Absent Management Solution meets and exceeds your expectations of usability and ability to solve the complicated logistics of filling your staff vacancies.

• Stability of our Company and Professional Recruiting Service: You will find our company and our solution is both stable and growing across the United States.

• References: Our references will tell you, unequivocally, that year in and year out we are a leader in staff sourcing and management. Our average fill ratio is 98.5% and is supported by our ability to fill openings within minutes of notice.

• Ability to Execute: You will find our ability to execute is second to none. We have the implementation of our process down to a science. We understand execution and implementation, along with training, is a key part to a successful client/service provider relationship.

• Value Added Services: You will find our in-depth reporting capabilities, our flexibility to adapt to your needs, and our “human element” approach, all very favorable value added services.


Table of Contents LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL........................................................................................................................ 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 4

TAB 1 – SIGNATURE FORM ....................................................................................................................... 7

TAB 2 – NCPA ADMINISTRATION AGREEMENT ..................................................................................... 8

TAB 3 – VENDOR QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................................................................................12

TAB 4 – VENDOR PROFILE ......................................................................................................................15

TAB 5 – PRODUCTS AND SERVICES/SCOPE ........................................................................................22

CONSULTING & STAFFING OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................... 22

SUBSTITUTE AND ABSENCE MANAGEMENT SERVICES (SAMS) .................................................................... 23

PROFESSIONAL RECRUITING (SEASONAL, TEMPORARY, PERMANENT OR TEMP-TO-HIRE) ............................. 38

TAB 6 – REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................43

TAB 7 – PRICING .......................................................................................................................................46

SAMS FEE STRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................ 46

PROFESSIONAL RECRUITING FEE STRUCTURE ............................................................................................ 48

TAB 8 – VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ..........................................................................51

TAB 9 – REQUIRED DOCUMENTS ..........................................................................................................52

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Executive Summary This proposal is in response to Region 14 Education Service Center’s request for Contract Staffing, Recruiting, and Consulting Products and Services to be utilized on the NCPA contract. This contract will serve to reduce the administration costs associated with competitive bidding while providing product lines at pre-determined discounts, cutting budget expenses within the education system.

“NCPA (National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance) is a leading national government purchasing cooperative working to reduce the cost of goods and services by leveraging the purchasing power of public agencies in all 50 states. NCPA utilizes state of the art procurement resources and solutions that result in cooperative purchasing contracts that ensure all public agencies are receiving products and services of the highest quality at the lowest prices.”

“There are over 90,000 agencies nationwide from both the public and nonprofit sectors that are eligible to utilize NCPA's cooperative purchasing contracts.“

This cooperative purchasing contract has been issued by the leading public agency, Region 14 Educations Service Center on behalf of all 50 states. Region 14 is comprised of 42 school districts, 3,900 professional educators and 50,000 students. Region 14 is 1 out of 20 centers in the state of Texas that has been mandated by Chapter 8 of the Texas Education Code to:

1. Assist school districts in improving student performance in each region of the system 2. Enable school districts to operate more efficiently and economically 3. Implement initiatives assigned by the legislature or the commissioner.

What is offered in this Proposal? CORE ECS is proposing two of our human capital solutions to assist Region 14 and all participating states in vetting and sourcing high caliber staff essential for success in an educational market but also in government and commercial sectors. Both our Substitute and Absence Management and Professional recruiting services features a “high touch” approach that we believe is key toward finding the right person for the needed position or augmentation.

Substitute and Absence Management

Whether your district manually calls substitutes or already has an automated substitute management system in place, we will help you to better understand the benefits our Substitute and Absence Management Services (SAMS) program can bring to your organization.

With our proprietary SAMS program, you will have live customer support confirming substitute availability and attendance. Let us take the logistics of employing, tracking, monitoring, reporting and paying your “flexible” staff off of your plate and put it on ours!

What SAMS can do for you: Significantly reduce absenteeism Save hours of scheduling time Access to extremely robust reporting capabilities Receive top-notch live customer service Confirm a highly secure workforce Tremendously increase your fill ratio No costly upgrades, tedious downloads, or system maintenance

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A sample of some of the screening methods we currently offer are: Criminal Background Screens Fingerprint-Based Background Screens Sex Offender Screening Driver’s License Screening Credit Checks (Including Student Loan Verification) Drug Testing Immunization Verification Pre-employment Health Physicals Education Verification Licensure Verification

Professional Recruiting

CORE ECS can assist clients in recruiting permanent staff to join their teams. In these engagements our team of HR professionals designs a recruitment strategy to find the proper talent and then we work with the client to determine a strategy to screen candidates. We also provide market intelligence reports to our clients to help them determine that the compensation and benefits offered are competitive with the market. The pricing of services can be structured in three ways: Direct Placement Success Fees, Fixed Fee Retained Search Services or Contract-to-Hire.

While most of the world focuses primarily on the objective aspects of the recruitment process, we find that 50% of successful hiring is more subjective. Again, the objective process of ensuring that a staff or consultant can meet the performance requirements of a position or engagement is very important but we take the process one step further to ensure that our recommended staff also fit into your organization’s culture.

At CCORE ECS, we invest a large amount of time and resources into determining the corporate culture of our client, we learn about the brand promise that the client is “selling” to their customers or students, and we focus on finding staff and consultants that embody the goals and values of the organization.

We feel strongly that you only see 50% of the picture if you only focus on whether a person can do a job…the other 50% is more geared to learning what motivates that staff to do that job well.

Why CORE ECS? Our firm is extremely unique as compared to our industry as a whole and especially when comparing us to our local competition, we have exceptional capabilities to service NCPA. In the following pages of this proposal we will lay out our plan to enhance the experience with staffing and will give specific evidence to prove our capabilities are uniquely beneficial to your organization. Our proposed solution is geared to improve the following areas of your experience:

o Value: Aggressive Pricing That Offers Significant Value and Personalized Service o Quality: Improved Staff Selection by Utilizing our Proprietary 5-Point Recruitment

Methodology o Simple: Customized, Advanced Online Staffing Management System with Incredibly

Simple User Interface o Integration: Access to Our Executive Management Team, Who Have Direct Experience

Integrating With PeopleSoft and Building Customized Financial Reporting Tools o Live: 24/7 Live Management Utilizing the Latest PDA Hand-Held Technology o Local: Service Delivery by the Only Truly Local City of Rochester Staffing Services

Company

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When addressing the needs of NCPA participants, we intend to exhibit extreme flexibility. We believe the needs of your organization and your service demands are unique.

In our opinion, no two customers are alike and we intend to learn from your direct experiences, leverage our knowledge gained from other clients and develop a service that is unique to NCPA. CORE ECS and our services are 100% based on developing customized solutions that meet the needs of our customers.

It is important for us to note that this document and our service offering can be further tailored to fit your needs. While we have put significant effort into designing the enclosed solutions we also believe that we can enhance your experience once we have more open discussion about your current service offering and any short comings it may have.

We are committed to being a positive force through the life of the NCPA contract, providing valuable long term employment to its municipal and educational institutions. Our firm is passionate about supporting this community and making a commitment to each participant’s economic and cultural development.

We look forward to the opportunity to expand our business relationship with your organization through this procurement process. We are pleased to have the opportunity to highlight our qualifications and our proposed services that cannot be matched by our competition. We hope to have the opportunity to present our services to your selection team in a forum where we could further expand on our experience and this proposal.

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RochesterNY

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Brian HardingAccount Manager

CORE Education and Consulting Solutions Inc.

1320 University Ave.Rochester NY 14607

(585) 698-1016 [email protected]

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Brian HardingAccount Manager

CORE Education and Consulting Solutions Inc.1320 University Ave.

Rochester NY 30346(585) 831-1389 [email protected]

Grant BennionDirector - Corporate Marketing

CORE Education and Consulting Solutions Inc.Three Ravinia Drive, Suite 1900

Atlanta GA 30346

(678) 578-7686 [email protected]

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Tab 4 – Vendor Profile

Please provide the following information about your company:

Company's official registered name CORE Education and Consulting Solutions Inc.

Brief history of your company, including the year it was established

CORE ECS is a wholly owned subsidiary of CORE Education and Technologies Ltd., India’s largest global education company. CORE Education and Technologies Ltd. strives for the creation of a better future across the globe by imparting best in the class technological solutions that help the future generation imbibe quality education worldwide.

Listed on the BSE & NSE and rated The Fastest Growing IT Company in the State of Maharashtra, India, CORE Education and Technologies Ltd. is a CMMi Level3 and ISO 9001:2000 certified Company, achieving over 100% annual growth with annual revenue of $145 million in FY09-10.

CORE ECS’ partnerships are aimed at continuing to provide first rate products, support, services, and solutions.

With now almost two thirds of the company’s employees and resources located in the United States, CORE ECS in the US is a sum of many entities and divisions. Beginning in 2005 with the first acquisition of what is now CORE Education & Consulting Solutions, CORE ECS has, over the last five years, acquired numerous companies including one of the most recent acquisitions: K12 Division of Princeton Review Inc., now CORE K12. With these critical acquisitions, CORE ECS has grown to encompass four key divisions.

Fast Facts – CORE Education and Technologies, Ltd.

Founded in 2003 Corporate Headquarters at Mumbai, India International Headquarters at Atlanta, GA USA and London, UK Global presence: Serving 7 States in India, 20 States in the US, 40 Institutions in UK, 8 African

and 3 Caribbean Nations Approximately 1200 employees worldwide Exhaustive range of products and solutions spanning across all stages of education – K12, higher

education and vocational training courses

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CORE is an end-to-end, technology-enabled education solutions provider that aims to transform the education spectrum encompassing Pre-K, K-12, Higher Education and Vocational Education. CORE strives to improve the quality of human capital as well as the global learning ecosystem through innovation in order to produce better educational outcomes. CORE’s operations span multiple geographies globally, with its primary focus being the United States, the United Kingdom and India, with additional operations in Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

Working with individual schools, districts/regional clusters and statewide agencies, CORE ECS integrates and optimizes formative assessment solutions, technology infrastructure, management applications, compliance reporting, outsourced staffing and consulting services. Where innovation is required to advance education in the United States, CORE ECS currently touches the lives of over 2.5 million learners in schools, districts and states across the country, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, Palm Beach County Public Schools, Orange County Public Schools, the Texas Education Agency, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, the Maine Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Education.

Staffing and Consulting

CORE ECS is a leading provider of contract staffing, recruiting, and consulting services to the education and municipal market. Our team of consultants also provides subject matter expertise for planning, installation, and process mapping to help your school technology investments truly optimize efficiency, data capture, and ultimately improve the educational experience to your student.

Advanced Technologies

From hardware and software acquisition, through installation and maintenance, on to monitoring, administration, and help desk, and all the way to end-of-lifecycle management, CORE ECS brings together all the elements you need and expect from the world’s premier source for educational products and services.

K12 Assessment

CORE ECS is an established, knowledgeable, and experienced leader in education, generating a reputation as a true partner–when innovation is required to advance learning. CORE ECS initiatives range from research-based instructional materials for challenged learners – to groundbreaking innovations in diagnostic assessment, representing the very latest in psychometric applications.

Careers and Skills Development

CORE ECS, is currently developing products and services focused on career technical education for high school students and young adults. Our Career and Skills Development services began working with schools and districts in 2011. The first of over 40 different career programs are scheduled for a fall 2012 release.

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Company's Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) number 957130974

Company's organizational chart of those individuals that would be involved in the contract

Corporate office location. >-List the number of sales and services offices for states being bid in solicitation. >-List the names of key contacts at each with title, address, phone and e-mail address.

Corporate Headquarters (Rochester, NY) ERP Division1320 University Avenue 3350 Scott Blvd, Bldg 34 Rochester, NY 14607 Santa Clara, CA 95054 Phone: (585) 232-4880 Phone: 866-507-2636

Fax: 408-350-4248 Princeton NJ Office5 Independence Way, Suite 160 New York OfficePrinceton, NJ 08540 1 Penn Plaza Suite 2905 Phone: (609) 674-8414 New York City, NY 10001

Phone: 212-946-7712 ITES Division5 Independence Way, Suite 160 Princeton, NJ 08540 Phone: 609-419-1640

Brian Keenan President CORE Education

Consulting & Staffing

Brian Harding VP Sales & Marketing CORE ESC

Cheryl Strong Sr. Account Manager

CORE ECS

Karyn Haskell Director of Service

CORE ECS

Jackie Brown Sr. Recruiter

CORE ECS

Mike TarantinoRecruiter & Acct

ManagerCORE ECS

Traci Thompson Sr. RecruiterCORE ECS


Define your standard terms of payment Net 30 days

Who is your competition in the marketplace? There are numerous competitors in the staffing market throughout the United States. Each one presents CORE ECS with an opportunity and the challenge to modify and position our customer focused solutions to meet the changing and growing demand for staffing resources.

Provide Annual Sales for last 3 years broken out into the following categories:

Cities / Counties None

K-12, Higher Education Other government agencies or nonprofit organizations

FY 13 April 1, 2012 – March 31,2013


What differentiates your company from competitors? If there is one common thread that ties our education and non-education clients together, it is the need to provide a highly secure workforce. Nearly every client we service through our SAMS program needs their substitute staff to be screened with methods that are far beyond the average client. We respect the necessity for secure staff and put the accuracy and completeness of these records above all other concerns.

What sets us apart from our competitors is the personal attention we give to each client and applicant. We don't stop at interviewing, reference checking, and skill testing our applicants… we go one step beyond our competitors and seek applicants that we believe would excel in the corporate culture of each client. We strongly believe that the "fit and feel" of an applicant is more than 50% of the recruitment process. It is this commitment to learning about our clients and applicants that is the secret to our extremely high customer satisfaction ratings.

Describe how your company will market this contract if awarded.

We have similar awards with non-centralized organizations and are prepared to expand or limit our marketing efforts as NCPA sees fit.

If awarded, CORE ECS will do four things: Issue a press release identifying the partnership with Region 14 and the availability of the NCPA

contract vehicle. Make an announcement on our corporate website. Develop marketing material geared toward promoting the NCPA contract. Direct our nationwide sales teams to pitch the value of utilizing the contract in lieu of competitive

bidding requirements.

Describe how you intend to introduce NCPA to your company Issue a companywide newsletter. Discuss the program in coordinated sales meetings.

Describe your firm's capabilities and functionality of your on-line catalog / ordering website Though CORE ECS does you a web-based system for processing staff orders, we do not host an online catalog as this would be contrary to our “high touch” philosophy. We feel that connection to our clients is as important as the ease of access to our system.

Describe your company's Customer Service Department (hours of operation, number of service centers, etc.) Our customer service features a Live call center available from 6am -7pm Monday –Friday where you can speak with one of our highly qualified representatives to assist you, whether it is placing a staffing order via phone or assistance with our online customer portal. Our offering is flexibility.

Green Initiatives CORE ECS uses a web-based portal to support order placement, administrative form generation and tracking, and payroll to help reduce carbon footprint, reduce waste, energy conservation and support a greener environment. In addition, as a Dell certified partner, we utilize energy efficient and EPA approved computing technologies.

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Vendor Certifications (if applicable)

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Tab 5 – Products and Services/Scope Consulting & Staffing Overview CORE ECS is a leading provider of contract staffing, recruiting, and consulting services to the education market. Our team of consultants also provides subject matter expertise for planning, installation, and process mapping to help your school technology investments truly optimize efficiency, data capture, and ultimately improve the educational experience to your student.

We know that Human Capital is the most important part of any successful company. The people that work for you, the people that are going to be working for you, are the people that are going to drive the results of your organization.

CORE ECS’ Consulting & Staffing division, formerly The Employment Store prior to its acquisition, has 25 years of experience understand the importance of human capital and the major undertaking that is involved in not only finding the right talent, but also managing that human capital once it is in place.

Our Consulting & Staffing experts service the human capital needs of large urban K-12 school districts, prestigious Universities, exclusive private secondary schools, growing municipalities and an array of corporations worldwide.

At a Glance…

Substitute and Absence Management Services (SAMS)

Administrators, teachers and substitutes alike have found the ease of using SAMS is second to none. We are able to support all of the complicated logistics of employing/tracking/monitoring/reporting/paying your “flexible” staff with one easy-to-deploy service. This is a very efficient way to manage a large complicated human resources dilemma.

Professional Recruiting (Seasonal, Temporary, Permanent or Temp-to-Hire)

Our team of HR professionals designs a recruitment strategy in order to find the proper talent to satisfy your requirements. This service is used not only for permanent hiring situations but also temporary/seasonal or temporary positions that lead to full-time status.

Consulting (Subject Matter Experts)

CORE ECS has extensive experience providing subject matter experts or teams of consultants to work on a variety of projects. Our teams work to assist K-12 school districts, Universities, municipalities and select corporations complete a project or deploy systems.

When it comes to technology, one thing is clear: having access to practical and experienced talent with technical expertise in the deployment, architecture and operation of these technologies is invaluable.

Whether our clients are deploying a major new system, augmenting staff to assist with seasonal fluctuations or are looking to analyze their human capital strategies and costs, clients come to CORE ECS for subject matter expertise.

CORE ECS has the subject matter expertise to help you find the right answers to these questions and more.

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Substitute and Absence Management Services (SAMS)

Client Service Representatives Our SAMS service includes both a dedicated LIVE client services team that is available by traditional phone, email and also by a live instant chat available inside our application.

It is imperative that we open numerous avenues of communication to everyone involved in the absence management solution. We understand that people have different accessible and preferred methods of communication so we have made it extremely easy to communicate regardless of the method.

We also feel that the importance of having a LIVE DEDICATED team that is responsible for the daily fills in your district is imperative to the success of the system. Our representatives become extremely familiar with your internal teams and the buildings within your district. As time goes on your dedicated client services team will begin to establish personal relationships with your internal staff and substitutes alike which creates a very efficient system of checks and balances. The team will begin to know preferences of staff/substitutes and which substitutes work best in which buildings. The knowledge our team builds by working hand and hand with your staff and substitutes alike is invaluable.

Customer Service Our company’s success is built on the concept of prompt, responsive and reliable customer service. No one understands more than we do how chaotic substitute and absence management logistics can be. In order to effectively manage these complicated logistics it is imperative to be accessible, understanding and compassionate to everyone involved in the day to day processes. We are available to staff and substitutes alike around the clock, 24/7.

Our dedicated client services team is in the office before your staff and leaves the office after your staff to ensure complete accessibility when they are needed. Each one of our client services representatives have company issued communication devices that receive phone calls, emails and has web access to ensure they are always available if and when needed during the week. Rest assured, our customer service focus is second to none in this industry.

Ability to Attach Documents to Absences CORE’s SAMS System has many features that are customizable to a district’s needs. Attachment of Documents is one such feature. We have the ability to customize the screen where uploads are attached, the amount of attachments accepted and how attachments are seen by other users such as Substitutes, Principals, and Administrative Users.

Attachments can be stored on the web servers for virtually unlimited amounts of time. Based on the size of the district and anticipated amount of transactions, CORE ECS will size a data partition to meet the needs of any school.

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CORE’s application will allow for attachment of the following file types and could be customized to attach others:

Pro-active Notification CORE’s SAMS System has been designed with simplicity of use at the forefront of its design. We find that many of our users access our system outside of tradition school hours from home computers or other devices so a streamlined and clean approach works best. However, we understand that while simplicity of the GUI is important providing feature rich solutions is also imperative.

CORE’s SAMS System is a “LIVE” updating system, where updates by Teachers, Administrators, Substitutes or our Service Center Reps are updated and immediately available to all parties.

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In addition to the “auto” emailing notifications noted above, the CORE SAMS System also has a feature rich User Interface that is updated in real-time. So any updates that are emailed are also automatically updated in the system.

Reporting Capabilities CORE’s SAMS System has been designed with an understanding that K12 School Districts need access to data. Because the SAMS System runs on an SQL Database virtually any field, calculation or comparative analysis could be run.

Email Notification

System

Order Status Change

Substitute Cancellation

Time Card Approval

Report Status

Updates

Substitute Performance

Evaluation

Placed staff, positions, statuses, other pertinent data are available on simple to view dashboards. The dashboards are defined by user profile so that only the data pertinent to each user is available at their fingertips. All data is updated in real-time.

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Understanding that many of our customers have common needs a base set of reports is run by simply selecting from a listing of these reports. These “canned” reports run instantly with no configuration needed by the user.

Purchasing/Finance HR Administrator Principal/Site Head Substitute

1. Weekly Billing

By Department, Cost Center, or Other Sort*

2. Budget Code Audit Report*

3. Detailed

Summary of All Long Term Coverage*

4. Detailed Summary of All Positions Placed Over a Period of Time*

5. Positions Needing HR Approval*

6. Position Order

Request Status* 7. Time To Be

Approved* 8. Previous

Assignments and Approved Time*

9. Future Positions To Be Filled*

10. Attendance Report*

11. Time Summary* 12. Previous

Assignments*

Below are some examples of reports that have been customized for other customers. Virtually any piece of data that is captured by the system could be reported on in either a tabular or graphical manner. Most of our reports are also available as a simple Excel or Excel compatible file format.

Because each customer has their set of data needs we will also custom program customer specific reports as part of this bid response, at no extra charge. If at any time additional custom reports are required they can be developed for a small extra charge. We charge for custom programming at $90/hour. Most reports can be developed in 2-10 hours of programming. The time is largely dependent on the complexity of the data needed, complexity of post processing or custom formulas to be applied and rigors of testing.

In addition to the reporting that is available by the system, CORE ECS also offers very advanced quarterly reporting package. For these quarterly reports, your data is reported with a rich graphical report. Most importantly we bring an account manager to your campuses to deliver the report and help to interpret trends and compare benchmarks to other similar schools in your region. This service can help to ensure that our customers are spending their staffing dollars efficiently and in accordance with typical regional trends, weather patterns etc. This process also helps to identify schools or cost centers that are spending beyond the mean.

Below you will find a small subset of data and graphics that our team will produce on a quarterly basis. Our team of consultants will meet with the client’s team on a quarterly basis to help interpret these statistics.

*All data below is fictitious: statistics, financials, names have been changed. Data formats and report formats are actual.

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In addition, once our system is used for more than one school year we can also provide statistics relating to year over year patterns or seasonal patterns for usage by school, job type, spend or other patterns that may be helpful to the business of running your district. Because these are not “canned” reports, our consultants have the ability to gather the data that is most important to your district and report in way that you feel are most important to your district.

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Dispatching Substitutes CORE ECS has developed a hybrid business model that blends the best of computer dispatching with the best of the human element. We find that merging live person to person calling with computerized optimized communications increases our fill rates and decreases the loss or turnover of staff.

Description of Hybrid Model

This is a very significant difference between our solution and other substitute software only solution. We believe that traditional dialing “human to human” significantly increases the ability to control quality and decrease rate of unfilled requests. Further, our professional staffs of customer service representatives give both Principals and Substitutes a simple point of contact to ask questions, receive directions or even to manage the nuances of likes and dislikes between staff and locations.

Hybrid Model: Orders

Processed Via System/Center

Phone In Orders

Place VIA Web

Use Smart Phone App**

Order is Received By Center

Contact Center Uses Algorithm To Create Contact Listing... contacts commense

via traditional dialer

Traditional Dialing Continues While Being Augmented

Robo-Dialer Is Employed To Increase The Frequency of

Outbound Dials. Callers Successful Connections Are Directed to Contact Center

Substitute Is Dispatched

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Pro-active Planning CORE’s SAMS Solution allows school locations to place staff requests at anytime up to more than a year in advance. This tool allows schools to manage future requests and allows staff to plan to schedules weeks or even months in advance.

Tracking Capabilities CORE’s SAMS System was designed with the utmost flexibility in tracking and reporting capabilities.

In fact, we have designed several customized tracking reports that allow our customers to track many different facets of their sub usage including:

Staff On Site Reports Substitute vs. Reason For Vacancy Reports Reason vs. Perm Staff Replaced Reports Cost vs. Budget Code Report

There are virtually unlimited permutations of these reports available. If your district needs to track information, CORE’s SAMS System can provide tracking, reporting or even dashboards for this type of data.

Formatting Data CORE’s SAMS System has been developed with an eye towards integration with outside systems. CORE has direct experience integrating data that is ported from the system with several payroll systems. We also have direct experience integrating with PeopleSoft.

Please note that CORE’s Staff Management Team is fortunate to have systems experience, staffing experience and accounting experience. In many cases our integration process will create efficiencies and reporting strategies that will help your district manage costs better and reduce spending.

For example: In one of our recent districts integrations we were able to integrate their fund accounting structure into our system allowing for all time and attendance to be cost accounted to the various “buckets” in their system. Because our system was flexible it was able pass this information directly into their PeopleSoft System without the requirement to key in information.

SAMS Data Processed To

Following Output Types

Custom Outputs

TBD

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User Access CORE’s SAMS System is a fully web enabled system. It is available 24/7/365 from any device that can access the World Wide Web.

Access to the system is controlled through a typical User Name/Password scenario. User access has no requirement for being within the school districts network or any need to access complex security such as VPNs. The beauty of CORE’s System is that it was developed for and is native to the web.

User Accounts are created simply and can be managed by our dedicated account team or your dedicated account team.

User Account access can be reset simply from the web through a “Request Password” feature or can be reset through customer support.

The CORE SAMS System also records and time stamps transactions such as timecard submissions or timecard approvals or other important system usage for documentation purposes.

While our product is functional via an iPAD, iPhone or Android device, we are currently working on dedicated “Apps” for these units that will make the system work even more fluidly in smaller screen formats. We expect these products to be available prior to the start of the 2013-2014 School Year. We are currently working to ensure that the following functionality has a streamlined interface for these devices. Our first revision is likely to include the following functionality:

Site Supervisors/Principals Version Substitute Staff/Teacher Version

Simple Placement of Orders Updates on Staff Expected At Sites Simple Timecard Approval

Accept Sub Assignments Submit Time For Approval Provide Updates To Contact Info

CORE Client Manager Account * Full Access, Help Level Services, Overrides All Levels Below

Administrative/HR Account * Can Approve REQs (if desired), Reporting Capabilities, Multi-site Visibility

Principal/Site Leader Account * Place Order, Reporting On Site Only, Review Staff Performance, "LIVE" Updates, Approve Time and Attendance Submissions

Substitute Staffer Account * Accept Positions, Request Payroll Information, Complete Time Sheets, Full Job History

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Phone Call Sustainability CORE’s SAM’s System communicates through a state of the art VoIP phone routing system. Our system has both auto-outbound and inbound routing capabilities as well as our Hybrid option that includes Human-to-Human calling. At CORE we feel that it is the combination of both automated and Human-to-Human calling that increases our quality and fulfillment rates. Our systems bound calling capacity is such that literally 1000s of calls could be placed per minute.

We staff our “Human-to-Human” call center. What this means to NCPA participants is that our staff is very familiar with our potential clients. Our facility is currently staffed from 6AM (EST) to 8PM (EST) – Monday through Saturday. Outside of these hours our system is available 24/7/365.

Orders Are Recieved via Web or Inbound Call For

School Locations Through Your District

Staff is Dispatched To Location, School is Auto-notified and Time Card Is

Active in The System

CORE's SAMS System Uses An Outbound "Robo Dialing" System To

Increase the Frequency of Dials... Staff Are

Transfered to Call Center Reps

CORE's SAMS System Selects A Short List of Staff

that meet the criteria: Eligible, Skills, Location,

and Availability

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System Matching Features Etc…CORE’s SAMS System has been built to simplify staff selection. We currently allow for the following assignment matching strategies:

Staff Skills Match Staff Availability Match Staff Proximity to Assignment or Transportation Means Staff Completion of Screens (such as T.E.A.C.H. Finger Print) Schools Can Also Disallow Staff To Return Male vs. Female For Special Needs Requiring Toileting or Other Special Needs Custom Matching Available On Request

The Human-To-Human element of CORE’s strategy allows our team to incorporate school desires, past nuances or other judgments that are not easily dealt with programmatically.

Retention of Substitute Work History CORE’s SAMS System is able to maintain records indefinitely. CORE ECS will work with clients to determine the length of records needing to be retained. CORE ECS will maintain client data throughout the life of the contract. CORE ECS can also provide at the request of the district its data for future use.

Building Assignments, Information, Etc…CORE’s SAMS System is particularly configurable in this area. It is generally our goal to make the submission of staffing orders as simple as possible. We accomplish this by setting up a series of preconfigured fields such as:

School or Location Name (preset and defined by the user who is entering the order) School direction or pertinent information General hours of operation School budget codes or position level budget codes Etc, etc.

All of these pre-completed fields can be simply written over in situations where custom information is dictated. Configuring this information at the user and location level of the system eliminates a large amount of repetitive entry of similar or exactly the same information.

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Who Hosts? CORE hosts our SAMS technology at Centrilogic in Rochester, NY. Centrilogic is an enterprise class data center. We have hosted our technology at Centrilogic for 6 years and we have found their service, uptime, and disaster plans to be exceptional.

22,000 square feet total

Self-contained single story building with hardened perimeter

Engineered to 99.999% availability

Four levels of physical security

50 IP video surveillance cameras

Biometric access control

Four UPS modules

2.0 MW of backup generator power

Two power connections from separate grids

N + 1 redundancy, temperature and humidity maintained within strict tolerance

FM200 gas system

Very Early Smoke Detection System (VESDA)

Customer staging, meeting & office facilities

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Method for Substitute Contacts CORE’s SAMS Team understands that our customers like choices. We have designed the system to accept multiple methods for both school administrators and substitutes to access and interact with the system. In general the system can be used via phone, web, email, txt and Human-to-Human.

CORE’s SAMS System is unique because of the introduction of the Human-to-Human contact from our call center. We find that this connection provides enhanced quality and increased fill rates. We allow substitutes and school administrators to choose their communication method of choice but we add the extra element of Human-to-Human contact.

I am sure we are all aware of services that offer service like this but their call centers are generally in distant geographies. CORE’s SAMS Contact Center is located in Rochester, NY. Our representatives work in your time zone, know your weather challenges and will actually tour your facilities to learn all of the nuances of your campus buildings.

SAMS System Process

Order

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Transfer of Current Data to System CORE ECS has been in the business of managing school related and HR data even before its inception. CORE’s teams of education, HR and technology experts are well versed in data migration from diverse systems. We have direct experience with similar data migration projects with very successful and efficient results.

CORE ECS grew through the acquisitions of three major names in education; all of these groups have long histories in data management and data migration:

The Employment Store: was a 30+ year old staffing, recruiting, and process outsourcing business that has chiefly focused on the education industry since 2001. The SAMS system was intellectual property that TES brought to CORE in 2010 and was developed in 2006. To date our SAMS technology has processed 1,000,000s of lines of payroll information; 100,000s timecards, and 100,000s of job assignments. CORE’s knowledge of managing HR and staffing related data is truly enterprise class.

ECS: was an Atlanta based company that has developed customized student data base products to manage the complex data collection, data warehousing, and data reporting related to IDEA legislation. CORE ECS has developed and managed custom databases for large implementation in the State of Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and many local districts for their Special Ed reporting needs. Further, CORE through our ECS group has also been tasked to manage and house the complex transportation logistics systems for the State of Maine’s Department of Education.

Princeton Review’s K12 Division: was acquired by CORE ECS in 2008. The Princeton Review’s K12 Division is a group that is chiefly focused on providing online formative assessment product to K12 Schools throughout the US, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia. Again, this is an area where implementations generally involve large data migrations and our clients count on us to house their data with the highest degree of security and data integrity.

As you can see, in all aspects of CORE’s business operation schools have chosen CORE ECS to manage, house, and help migrate their data. To say CORE ECS is an expert in these areas is an understatement at best.

Changes in System / Platform System Platform issues do not typically affect our system. CORE’s SAMS System is 100% web based and as such the operating system on a given system does not affect its usage.

Our system is chiefly affected browser technology. We are regularly checking for browser compliance and compatibility. We represent that our system is compatible with major browsers such as Microsoft IE, Firefox, Google Chrome. We also actively work to ensure that our system is able to be properly rendered in lesser used browsers such as Safari.

While our system is currently functional through smart phones we have not built a true dedicated App. We have plans to launch an App late in 2013 for Android and soon after Apple iPhone. Our App technology will be similar in that it will need to keep up with the latest operating system changes in phone, not the other way around.

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No Special Software or Downloads Required? There is no special software that is downloaded to any machines at the district. As we further investigate integration with current payroll and accounting systems, there may be a need for middleware or translation software. However; in our experience, this is not required most of the time. CORE’s SAMS System can output its data in several industry standard formats such as Excel, CSV, TXT. In more than 99% of the cases, a client’s third party accounting or payroll systems will accept those file types as the system uploads.

Maintenance / Enhancements / Upgrades & Disruption Like any software product, Upgrades, Enhancements and System maintenance is a necessary part of the system. CORE’s SAMS System conducts routine maintenance on our systems at regular frequency throughout the month. In most cases we are able to conduct these maintenance cycles during low usage period of our systems.

We also have complete parallel systems that are able to be used for testing prior to any major enhancement being rolled out. As with most computer systems SAMS has definite periods of peak usage: mornings between 6AM and 8:30AM, early evening between 3PM and 8PM and Fridays ALL DAY due to time card submissions being particularly heavy usage periods. We avoid these periods for any systems work. In addition, any major revisions are scheduled during school breaks or other low usage periods to avoid downtime.

Technical Support CORE ECS is able to provide 24/7 technical support for systems related issue. We are available through a dedicated toll free number (a custom number will be provided to each client) as well as through various web methods.

Scope of Maintenance Services CORE ECS will provide maintenance to the system including but not limited to:

Maintain all computer hardware in the datacenter environment Maintain all network connectivity at the datacenter Provide bug fixes at no additional charge Provide 24/7 network monitoring Monitor firewalls and security appliances and software Provide Help Desk and Technical Support Meet with customer on a regular basis to discuss performance and other usability modifications

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Training for Implementation CORE is very experienced in large implementations. We understand that a successful implementation is heavily dependent on successful training plans.

In one of our most recent implementations we were successful in rolling out this technology to a school district with close to 70 physical locations including schools, physical plants and central offices. In this implementation we trained more than 1000 people in the use of the system in a matter of a few weeks.

Our approach to training would involve four facets:

LIVE On-Site Training o We will provide trainers to visit each school location in your district to provide system

training. How to place an order via web, phone and email How to review progress Running reports Contacting our call center procedures How to approve time or review past time cards How to provide staff feedback or disallow a staffer to return to your site

o During these visits we will also complete site questionnaires that will all allow us to further customize each site’s order forms. This will reduce the amount of data entry each site will need to complete when placing an order.

Webinar On-Line Training o School Site Manager Training (see above) o Staffer/Substitute Systems Training

How to accept an order (via phone, web, or txt) How to process time cards through the system How to update information including contact or desires to not work at a specific

location How to print and maintain future assignment schedules.

Multimedia Training Materials o Develop a site specific web video to train site managers and staffers on the use of the

system o Email alerts to remind new users and helpful tips o Hardcopy materials sent via US Mail o Custom brochure to describe the process of getting registered o Branded web site specific to the process of registering new users to the system

Enhance Live Help Desk Support o Provide LIVE Help Desk Support to assist new users in using the system and/or

submitting timecards for approval

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Professional Recruiting (Seasonal, Temporary, Permanent or Temp-to-Hire)

Human Capital Solution CORE ECS is a leading provider of technology solutions to our clients. From basic hardware and software to student assessment tools and interactive teaching/learning systems or most recently advances in cloud computing, CORE ECS is laser focused on providing technology solutions to our customers.

When It comes to technology; one thing is clear, having access to practical and experienced talent with technical expertise in the deployment, architecture, and operation of these technologies is invaluable.

Here are some examples of how CORE Education and Consulting Solutions Inc., can support your personnel needs:

Augmentative Staff to meet the needs of fall semester opening your institution and the intense helpdesk needs this creates.

Project Team needed for deploying a new system onto your network in order to meet your schedule and within your budget

Recruitment of exceptional talent with subject matter expertise.

There are several reasons that make specialized contract staffing an essential business solution for K12 Districts and Universities as well as Government and Business Institutions. The following is a listing of universal problems that can be addressed through outsourcing some of the staff to a specialized contract staffing solution like CORE:

Throughout the year, the need for employee staffing can vary greatly in each seasonal pattern, which is why outsourcing personnel needs may save time and money versus an intensive internal hiring initiative. At CORE ECS, we also feel strongly that each client institution has specific needs or requirements that differ from our other clients. We do not approach our clients with a “one-size-fits-all” attitude. In fact, our services can be customized to meet the specific objectives of each client.

1. Seasonal Patterns in Staffing Needs

2. Presence of Unions or Civil Service Requirements

3. Heavily Cost Constrained Environment

4. Exposure to Student-to-Staff Ratio Compliance

5. Extensive Grant Based and non-Grant Based Projects

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Policies and Procedures At CORE ECS Consulting & Staffing, we know that the quality and reliability of our staff is the product we offer. Over the years, we have developed a well-honed process of recruiting, vetting and screening talent for our clients’ needs, both temporary and permanent.

We understand that each customer has a unique culture that has been established by leadership and embraced by employees. It is very important to us that we discover your unique culture in order to find the right candidate with the personality to fit your culture. Once we understand your unique culture we then proceed to our 5-point recruitment approach to start your candidate recruitment process.

Whether we are searching for an entry level file clerk or a financial analyst, the elements of the 5-Point Method are the same. By remaining thorough and consistent in our methods, we are able to achieve unmatched results and quality.

Because clients are willing to place much of the responsibility for actual candidate selection in the hands of the recruitment agency, It is important for them to feel comfortable with their partner’s methods and quality, to ensure consistency of the service offering. Below is a brief summary of the elements included in our 5-Point Method:

Our 5-point recruitment approach is as follows:

Critical Resume Review – We review each resume to ensure prospective candidates have the job stability, skill set and knowledge you are looking for.

In-Depth Phone Screen – We have a very in-depth phone conversation with candidates chosen from the critical resume review process. During this conversation we discuss work history, expectations, qualifications, etc.

In-Person Interview – Once a candidate has successfully passed our in-depth phone screen, we then meet them in person or via web conference to ensure complementary culture fit and appearance criteria. This meeting usually lasts around 30 minutes.

Testing – We have access to thousands of online testing tools, from general office skills to reading comprehension. These tests are administered when applicable.

Professional References – To ensure candidate quality, we contact two professional references for all successful candidates before we submit to the client. You can be sure that any client submitted to you has a positive prior work history.

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Why is industry focus important? There are a few specific aspects of our service model that are tailored to the Education/Municipal Market and we think these are extremely important to our clients:

Employee Screening For Highly Secure Environment Specialized Systems To Provide Business Intelligence Reports Consulting To Assist In Developing Best Practices Access To Subject Matter Experts

Employee Screening for Highly Secure Environments: What should be more secure than a financial institution? In our opinion, we hold the compliance and screening aspects of our process above all other aspects of our business. At CORE ECS, we are able to screen staff to a level that is commensurate with the internal process used at the Municipal Institution we are providing staff to. Our screening capabilities are very extensive spanning Criminal Background Screening, FBI Fingerprinting, Drug Testing, Driver’s License Screening, Education Confirmations, Sex Offender Screens, and much more. Again our vetting process will match the expectations a client has of their own internal hiring process.

Business Intelligence Reporting and Best Practice Consulting: Because our systems have been tailored to fit the needs of municipal clients, we track metrics that are important to the Government Industry. Clients can expect our team to provide interpretation of their staff augmentation spending and make suggestions of Best Practices based on our knowledge of the industry. Our reporting and business intelligence consulting has helped many of our clients significantly reduce staffing spend by addressing business problems or internal management issues at the customer level that were identified through CORE ECS’s consultative approach.

Access To Subject Matter Experts: Understanding the business of government is very important. At CORE ECS, we are well versed in the terminology and systems used in municipal intuitions at both the state and local level. We feel strongly that our staff needs to have strong skills and a healthy mix of comparable experience in the industry. Over the years, our team of consultants and staff augmentation specialists has grown to include true subject matter experts. CORE ECS has a demonstrated track record of recruiting SMEs throughout the US and internationally.

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Quality CORE ECS’s central competency is with staffing educational and municipal facilities. We feel confident that our recruitment methodologies, understanding of the educational and municipal industry and technical advancements will clearly demonstrate our success in the fulfillment of clerical, technical and professional staff.

Our core competency as a firm lie in each of these three segments (clerical, technical and professional). We have a committed team prepared to be a dedicated account team exclusively to each client in order to service your departmental needs in all three areas with speed and quality.

Quality is the most critical component of our service and is a key differentiating factor.

Quality: “a characteristic, property or attribute with respect to grade of excellence.” (Defined in the American College Dictionary)

To implement a solution where quality is a measurable component of our service, we have to define our product – People. People are unique; each person has his/her own unique experience, background, skill set, personality and motivators.

We have found Quality to be that critical component to our success – definable and measurable. Quality, to CORE ECS, means finding the "perfect match" of a person’s skills, professional background and personality and matching that person with an organization and position. If a placement does not meet our client’s quality expectations it will result in lost time and money for the client and ultimate dissatisfaction of the service. We are confident that our service can provide quality results. Further, we will provide measurable results and stand behind those results.

Our quality of service is measured by our team and analyzed by management to ensure that our standards are being achieved. We regularly meet with customer accounts (if interested) to discuss our performance on quality, service and other areas.

In addition to our measurement of quality standards, we also perform customer satisfaction reviews of our temporary staff’s performance, both on a 30-day and 90-day basis. The process is very efficient as we rely on web enabled email technology to distribute and collect this data. The data is then reviewed and summarized in a report format available to the client.

Our Account Manager will be responsible for performing all performance and employee relations issues with our staff. We generally communicate with our staff during non-business hours, so as not to disrupt their work day at your locations.

We feel confident that our quality standards will exceed your expectations

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Retention Programs CORE ECS offers our temporary employees an impressive selection of benefits while working for our company. Some of our corporate benefits provided to our temporary staff include, but are not limited to the following:

Discounted Healthcare Plan Vision Plan Discounts 401(k) Elective Enrollment Holiday Bonuses Referral Programs Training on Software and Skills

We understand that retention of staff in each position is vital to ensure that staff coverage exists consistently, and for the length of the assignment. We believe that our benefits program for our staff is very successful in retaining our employees. In addition, we respect our temporary employees, as they are a vital extension to our internal team. Several times a year, we offer our temporaries on-site classroom training and status meeting with their recruiters to ensure that their current assignment achieving their desired goals. Our website has an employee portal for our employees to communicate with us with any updates, changes or questions.

In addition to the career assistance, we provide our temporary staff with many “perks” to demonstrate our appreciation of their hard work and commitment to our clients and CORE ECS.

Our temporary staff values the respect and added benefits we provide to them as they work within our organization. Throughout our history, we have received numerous emails, voicemails, note cards and genuine hugs from our temporary staff, thanking us for treating them with the respect and assisting them (in a sometimes transitional period of their lives). We are honored to provide our team with these added benefits and value their commitment to our firm

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Tab 8 – Value Added Products and Services

Value Due to our keen interest in servicing the staffing needs of each client, CORE ECS has offered our complete services at a price that is far below our standard list bill rate.

Although this pricing is significantly lower than our standard pricing we want to make sure that it is understood that our service offering is complete and in fact includes some additional services that are not offered to all of our customers.

Our pricing presented in this response is an inclusive price that includes all aspects of our customer focused, customizable services. There are no additional charges for all the value added services we offer to the NCPA participants in this proposal.

All fees include the following:

Staff Selection Utilizing our Proprietary 5-Point Recruitment Methodology Employee Wage All State and Federal Employment Taxes Applicable Insurances (worker’s comp, disability, liability, etc) Employee Participation in CORE ECS Benefits Program Access To Unlimited Online Testing and Training Services Company Time Cards Simplified and Customizable Billing (paper or electronic) On-line Tools and Reports – Including Customized URL Specific to the City 24/7 On-Call Service Finger Printing Services on All Required Positions 30-Day Payment Terms

Throughout this proposal, we highlight our commitment to being a personalized, flexible and customizable solution to Premier Clients.. Our value proposition is simple: with our aggressive pricing model, our customized solutions and implementation are unmatched by our competition.

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